"Hal Finney" wrote:
> The first is that numbers are really far more complex than they seem. > When we think of numbers, we tend to think of simple ones, like 2, or 7. > But they are not really typical of numbers. Even restricting ourselves to > the integers, the information content of the "average" number is enormous; > by some reasoning, infinite. Most numbers are a lot bigger than 2 or 7! > They are big enough to hold all of the information in our whole universe; > indeed, all of the information in virtually every possible variant of our > universe. A single number can (in some sense) hold this much information. How ? Surely this claim needs justification! > On the one hand, we know that the universe is dynamic and ever-changing. > On the other, the four-dimensional block universe is a static object. > The apparent dynamism is seen as something of an illusion. There is > no actual passage of time, rather all moments coexist. The future and > the past are merely relative directions like north or south, relative > to some observer. > > The block universe (or spacetime) is not the only way to look at things, > but it is one valid way, I don't see why it should be *as* valid as views that account for dynamisn, even as a subjective phenomenon. The more a theory explains, the better it is. > and it illustrates that even within a static > object (the block universe) there may be the perception of dynamism from > the inside. How? No-one ever explains this. > The point is, then, that conceivably a seemingly "static" > number of sufficient complexity could have similar internal dynamism. How ? Why should piling on more static structure lead to dynamism ? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
